Chu-pen Hsien-pen (Abiding in the Origin and revealing the Origin) is the function related to the Subtlety of the Original Land. This is spoken of by Chih-i in terms of the original intention of the Buddha. The Buddha abides eternally in the Original Land of Sahā in revealing his original body dharmakāya. (Vol. 2, Page 447)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismMonthly Archives: April 2019
Day 18
Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.
Having last month considered that all things are insubstantial, we consider in gāthās the proper practices and proper things to approach.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
A Bodhisattva who wishes
To expound this sūtra without fear
In the evil world
After [my extinction]
Should perform proper practices
And approach proper things.He should keep away
From kings, princes and ministers,
From other government officials,
From players of dangerous sports,
From caṇḍālas, from heretics,
And from aspirants for the teaching of Brahman.He should not approach arrogant people,
Or the scholars who are deeply attached
To the Three Stores of the Lesser Vehicle,
Or the bhikṣus
Who violate the precepts,
Or self-appointed Arhats,
Or the bhikṣunīs/
Who like to laugh playfully.He should not approach the upāsikās
Who are attached to the five desires
Or who seek in their present life
The extinction[-without-remainder].When they come to him
With good intent
In order to hear
About the enlightenment of the Buddha,
He should expound the Dharma to them
Without fear,
But should not wish to receive
Anything from them.He should not approach
Or make friends with a widow
Or with an unmarried woman
Or with a eunuch.He should not approach
Slaughterers or cooks
Or those who kill for profit,
Such as hunters or fishermen.He should not approach
Butchers
Or procurers
Of prostitutes.He should not approach
Dangerous wrestlers
Or makers of various amusements
Or immoral women.He should not expound the Dharma
To a woman in an enclosed place.
When he expounds the Dharma to her,
He should not laugh playfully.When he goes to a village to beg for food,
He should take a Bhikṣu with him.
If he cannot find a Bhikṣu [to take with him],
He should think of the Buddha with all his heart.These are the proper practices he should perform
And the proper things he should approach.
He should expound the Dharma peacefully
Only after doing all this!
This part of Chapter 14 is an example of why “Peaceful Practices” served as an unofficial Mahāyāna precepts.
I’ve been reading Paul Groner’s The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School, which focuses almost entirely on Saichō’s effort to establish Mahāyāna precepts to distinguish his Tendai monks from the Nara establishment, which required new monks to take the Hinayāna precepts. Saichō’s efforts expanded on Chih-i’s concept of precepts, as Groner points out:
Besides the concept of a bodhisattva who performed Sudden practices, Chih-i also introduced another concept utilized by Saichō, the Perfect precepts (enkai). The term ‘Perfect precepts’ referred to Chih-i’s classification of Buddhist doctrine into four categories and designated the precepts appropriate for followers of the Perfect teaching. Chih-i equated the Perfect precepts with the precepts of the Buddha. They were realized through meditation, practice, and the development of a mind which was free from passions and thus able to perceive things as they really are (jissōshin). The Perfect precepts were usually not identified in Chih-i’s writings with any particular set of rules such as the precepts of the Fan wang ching (Sūtra of Brahma’s Net), Hinayāna sets or even with the anrakugyō (Serene and Pleasant Activities) of the Lotus Sūtra. Elsewhere, however, Chih-i stated that adherence to the Lotus Sūtra (jikyō) was equivalent to holding the most profound precepts. Such precepts were called absolute (rikai) and were free of specific content. They were realized in two ways. A monk or nun might gradually practice precepts of increasing subtlety until the Perfect precepts were attained, or he or she might attain them in an instant through Sudden practices. (Page 224-225)
Our Master, Teacher and Father
Śākyamuni Buddha is quoted to have declared in the third chapter on “A Parable” of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 2, “This triple world is My domain.” It means that the Buddha Śākyamuni has the virtue of being our master, the king and the most respectable in the world. His words, “All living beings therein are My children,” means that the Buddha has the virtue of our parent; and “There are many sufferings in this world; only I can save all living beings” points out His virtue of being our teacher. In the sixteenth chapter on “The Life Span of the Buddha” of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha is quoted to have declared, “I am the father of the world.” …
Grand Master Miao-lê declares in his Five Hundred Questions and Answers (Wu-pai wén-lun): “A man who does not know the long life of his father is like a man who wanders around the country governed by his father. Such a man cannot be a son of a man no matter how talented he is;” and “Even though his talent is as great as that of all the people in the country put together, he is nothing but a fool if he does not know how old his parents are.” Precept Master Tao-hsüan (Dōsen) of the Fen-te-ssu Temple at Chung-nan-shan in T’ang China mentions in his Ancient and Modern Disputes between Buddhism and Taoism (Ku-chin fu-tao lun-hêng), “Before the time of the Three Emperors (Fu Hsi, Shen Nung and Yellow Emperor) in ancient China, they had no characters for writing; they knew who their mother was but did not know their father. They acted as if they were birds and beasts.” These are words that Priest Hui-yüan (Eon) of Sui China uttered when he admonished the Emperor Wu of Northern Chou against his persecuting Buddhists.
Hasshū Imoku-shō, A Treatise on the Differences of the Lotus Sect from Eight Other Sects, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 17
Daily Dharma – April 3, 2019
The [perverted] people think:
“This world is in a great fire.
The end of the kalpa [of destruction] is coming.”
In reality this world of mine is peaceful.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Here he draws a stark contrast between how those caught in the web of delusion see the world and how things really are. The world is constantly changing. When we expect the world to be as we want it, rather than as it is, any change is frightening. We assume that the world is falling apart and will sweep us along in its demise. When we practice the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, we know that we and all beings will become enlightened. The change in the world is part of our practice. We know how it will turn out and there is no fear. Only peace.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Making Evil the subject of liberative contemplation
Chih-i’s own thought stresses that delusion and enlightenment, the nine realms and Buddha realm, are inherent in any phenomenon; thus, those who live in evil circumstances and have no opportunity to contemplate the perfections are not excluded from the Way but can make that evil the subject of liberative contemplation. Nevertheless, he was extremely careful to clarify that the ontological nonduality of good and evil did not obviate the need to make firm conventional distinctions between them; he also inveighed against monks who interpreted the teaching of nonduality as legitimizing antinomian behavior or who taught it irresponsibly without regard for their listeners’ ability to understand. (Page 361)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismSubtlety of the Original Proclamation of the Dharma
Fei-chi Hsien-pen (Abandoning the Traces and revealing the Origin) is the function related to the Subtlety of the Original Proclamation of the Dharma. Chih-i explains that in the past, because of heavy hindrances of five aggregates (Ch., Wu-yün; Skt., pan͂ca skandhāḥ) of sentient beings, the Buddha could not express the Origin, but only showed his recent accomplishment in the Traces. In the Lotus Sūtra, the hindrances of beings are wiped away, whereby it is necessary to abandon the teaching of the Traces in revealing the teaching of the Origin. (Vol. 2, Page 447)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 17
Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.
Having last month heard Medicine-King Bodhisattva-mahāsattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva-mahāsattva’s vow to uphold the Lotus Sūtra, we hear from Arhats and Śrāvakas who vow to preach the Lotus Sūtra in some other world.
At that time there were five hundred Arhats in this congregation. They had already been assured of their future attainment [of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi]. They said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! We also vow to expound this sūtra [but we will expound it] in some other worlds [rather than in this Sahā-World].”
There were also eight thousand Śrāvakas some of whom had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn. They had already been assured of their future attainment [of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi]. They rose from their seats, joined their hands together towards the Buddha and vowed:
“World-Honored One! We also will expound this sūtra in some other worlds because the people of this Sahā-World have many evils. They are arrogant. They have few merits. They are angry, defiled, ready to flatter others, and insincere.”
In his letter Treatise on the Teaching, Nichiren used the hesitance of the Arhats and Śrāvakas to preach in the Sahā world to show what he was up against:
It is predicted in the Lotus Sūtra, in the 13th chapter “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra,” that 2000 years after the Buddha’s extinction, in the Latter Age of Degeneration, three kinds of enemies will appear against those who spread the Lotus Sūtra. The time at hand matches exactly the Latter Age of Degeneration preached in the Lotus Sūtra as the “fifth 500-year period” after the death of the Buddha. As I, Nichiren, contemplate whether or not the Buddha’s words have proved to be true, three kinds of enemies surely exist today. If I deny the existence of the three enemies and spread the Lotus Sūtra in a manner so as to avoid persecution, I cannot claim to be a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. On the other hand, if I spread the sūtra in such a way that I am persecuted by enemies, I certainly will lose my life.
A Vow to Manifest Our Buddhahood
There are two causes at work when the Stupa of Treasures appears that are stated in Many Treasures original vow. In other words there are two things that make the appearance of Many Treasures and his stupa possible. The first cause, or the first requirement was the original vow of Many Treasures. By making his vow originally he set into motion the actualization of it happening. In our own lives it would be comparable to making a determination to do something. Because of our promise or determination we put into motion the actualization of that thing we determined. This is one reason why I feel that when we take vows to practice Buddhism it is so important to really understand the significance of making that promise. We should become people of our word, doing what we promise to do, in all situations.
The second cause, which enabled Many Treasures Buddha to appear, was the supernatural powers he obtained as the result of his own practice of the Lotus Sutra. In other words Many Treasures Buddha made a vow, which he could carry out because of his accumulated benefit of practicing the Lotus Sutra. Many Treasures Buddha, wishing to repay his gratitude for the many benefits he had obtained, promised to appear whenever the Lotus Sutra was taught, and he was able to do this because he received the merit and made the promise.
In our own lives, we have the hidden treasure, the gem of Buddhahood, which we can ignore and let lay dormant. On the other hand we can choose to make a vow, or a determination, to manifest and then carry out the necessary activities to actualize the vow to manifest our Buddhahood. All this we can do through our faith in the Lotus Sutra.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraTime To Spread the True Dharma
Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu were great commentators who wrote one thousand commentaries. However, they commented only on provisional Mahāyāna sūtras, and even though they inwardly grasped the Lotus Sūtra, they did not outwardly speak of it. (There is an oral transmission about this). T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō spread the Lotus Sūtra but they did not reveal the Most Venerable One of the essential section, the four bodhisattvas guided by the Original True Buddha, precept dais of the essential section, and the five characters of “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.” Their reasons were, first of all they did not receive the teaching from the Buddha. Secondly the time was not right to spread the teaching. The time has now arrived, however, and the four bodhisattvas guided by the Original True Buddha will appear in this world to spread the True Dharma according to the sūtra. I, Nichiren, have known this for a while. During the time of Emperor Wu in Han China a blue bird flew from the West signaled the omen of Hsi-wang-mu’s coming or a magpie sang as the omen of a visiting guest. My disciples should think this through seriously. You should not abandon your faith in the Lotus Sūtra even at the risk of your life.
Hokke Gyōja Chinan-ji, Difficulty of the Practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 16
Daily Dharma – April 2, 2019
The Buddhas expound the Dharma
In perfect freedom.
Knowing the various desires and dispositions
Of all living beings,
They expound the Dharma
With innumerable parables
And with innumerable similes
According to their capacities.
These verses are sung by Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. They show the realization by the Buddha’s disciples of why the Buddha uses different teachings for different people. For us who do not know the various desires and dispositions of all living beings, the Buddha gives this Lotus Sūtra, When we put this teaching into practice, and use it to benefit all beings, it is as if we are teaching from the Buddha’s own mind.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com